Why do Arab rulers want a ceasefire in Gaza but not in Syria?

The rulers of Saudi Arabia and Qatar insist that Bashar Assad step down
or be removed by force because the Syrian people want him gone. Yet, they
ignore the fact that the Arab peoples want them all gone, not just Assad.

On
average, over one hundred people, many of whom are civilians, have died every
day in Syria for the past 20 months. The Syrian government says that it is
fighting terrorists financed by Arab rulers and the Turkish Islamist government.
The rebels say they are fighting a non-democratic regime. Nearly twenty other
Arab rulers govern without a public mandate. The rulers of Saudi Arabia and
Qatar insist that Bashar Assad step down or be removed by force because the
Syrian people want him gone. Yet, they ignore the fact that the Arab peoples
want them all gone, not just Assad.

For just five
days now, Israel and Gaza armed groups have exchanged fire that has resulted in
70 people dead (67 Palestinians and 3 Israelis), over 600 hundred Palestinians
wounded, and hundreds of homes and buildings destroyed. Since the firing of the
first missile, the Arab rulers have pressed Egypt and Turkey to mediate a
ceasefire and called on world leaders and international organizations to act
“to stop Israeli aggression.” The
Qatari ruler, the main supplier of deadly weapons to the Syrian militias,
headed to Egypt to press President Morsi to help end the violence in Gaza. So
what gives? Are Arab rulers finally giving up on violence and embracing peace?

While
some countries, including Russia and China, called for a ceasefire in Syria,
the majority of Arab rulers threw their support behind a newly formed body
called the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces
(SNCORF). The latter vowed to continue to fight the regime and insisted that it
would not negotiate or accept a ceasefire until Assad is ousted and all his
security forces are dismantled. Most recently, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi’s
proposed three-day ceasefire to allow for peaceful celebration of a religious
holiday was not honored. In contrast, just five days after the start of the
recent flare of violence in Gaza, the Arab rulers are suddenly eager to talk
peace. They are calling on world leaders to pressure Israel to agree to a
ceasefire.

The Arab
rulers’ double standard is robbing them of any credibility they had left. They
are increasingly seen to be trading with civilian blood to achieve their
political goals. Importantly, they are inculcating a racist message when they
suggest that the lives and dignity of Arabs can be abused by other Arabs but
not by Jews and non-Arabs. They cry foul when Israel attacks armed groups, but
they supply Islamist groups with deadly arms that prolong a civil war in Syria.
They want the world to believe that Israel is an “aggressor” because it caused
the death of 67 civilians, yet they are arming warring factions in Syria to
prolong a war that killed nearly 50,000 people. The Arab rulers need to be
reminded that victimhood, like aggression, does not have a nationality, a race,
or a religion. A victim is a victim regardless of the identity of the abusers,
and oppression is oppression regardless of the identity of the oppressed.

Arab
rulers are using the plight of the Palestinians to score political points, and
they are vilifying Israeli Jews for the same acts of cruelty Arabs inflict on each
other. They want the Gaza war to end so that it does not expose their
impotence. They want the Syrian war to continue because it serves their narrow sectarian
and nationalistic interests. They also want the Gaza war to end so that they
are not asked to arm the Palestinian groups with the same weapons they are
sending to the Syrian Islamists. The double standards Arab rulers have adopted
expose their hypocrisy and supremacist attitudes.

___________________

* Prof. SOUAIAIA's opinions are his own, speaking as a
citizen on matters of public interest; not speaking for the university or any
other organization with which he is affiliated.

About the author

Ahmed E. Souaiaia teaches at the University of Iowa. He is the author of the book, Contesting Justice (State University of New York Press, 2010) and his most recent book,Anatomy of Dissent in Islamic Societies, provides a historical and
theoretical treatment of rebellious movements and ideas since the rise of
Islam. Opinions are the author’s, speaking on matters of public interest; not speaking for any organization with which he is affiliated.

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